Brass Processional cross; Ethiopia
Brass Processional cross; Ethiopia

Society
One major civilization in ancient Africa was Aksum (Axum). Aksum was a very important trade center and was located in eastern Africa in present day Ethiopia. Aksum was located in the Ethiopian highland and controlled trade on the red sea. One of the main items of trade was ivory. Ivory is the white material from elephant trunks and was very useful for carving. Christianity, unlike many other African civilization, was the main religion of the region.

Artifact
This cross is from a church in Ethiopia. The cross has many distinct differences from its roman counter parts. The cross is ornately ordained unlike that of the roman church. Later crosses from the same region had arms off the same length rather than shorter side arms. Crosses also filled in the space between each of the arms with more designs.

Modern link
In Sudan the country is splitting because of religion. Southern Sudan has more Christian inhabitants and northern Sudan has more muslims which has caused a schism between the north and the south.
southern and northern sudan schism